Cause for talking King, Rowling, Irving in benefit performances

NEW YORK (AP) – Authors J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and John Irving will read selections from their own works during two benefit performances at Radio City Music Hall this summer.

The readings from the creators of Harry Potter (Rowling), “Cell,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Carrie” (King) and “The World According to Garp” and “The Cider House Rules” (Irving) will be held on Aug. 1-2.

“An Evening with Harry, Carrie and Garp” will benefit two nonprofit organizations: The Haven Foundation, which helps performing artists whose accidents or illnesses have left them uninsured and unable to work, and Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian group that delivers emergency aid in more than 70 countries.

Tickets go on sale Friday.

The benefit was conceived by King, who called it “a dream come true for me.”

“It’s a chance for me to read with two great writers while supporting two very deserving organizations at the same time,” he said in a statement.

Rowling, who is making her first visit to the U.S. since 2000, said, “Stephen (King) pretended to be in suspense about my answer, but frankly, this was easily one of the most enticing propositions ever put to me in an envelope.”

Irving, a close friend of King’s, said he looked forward to meeting Rowling, and credited her with “introducing an entire generation of readers to long, complicated, plotted novels.”

Tickets ranging from $12.50 to $100 will be available through Ticketmaster beginning Friday at 10 a.m. Prime orchestra seats will also be available via a Ticketmaster auction online. A limited number of “Family Packages” that will include 4 premium orchestra seats and a set of 3 signed books – one from each author – will also be on sale via Ticketmaster for $1,000 per package. All ticketholders will have a chance to submit a question to the authors via e-mail, which will be answered at the performances.

The benefit performances are being sponsored by Scholastic and Simon and Schuster/CBS Corp.